William Anderson writes:
As economists such as George Stigler and Sam Peltzman pointed out, regulation has the effect of offering protection to regulated firms, but also serving to keep out competitors. In other words, contra Krugman, regulation creates what in effect are government-sponsored cartels. From this, we see “Capture Theory” emerging, as the regulated industries and their government regulators form a tag team that operates to the benefit of the people in the system — and against consumers.
Yet proponents of regulation claim it protects the consumer. More double-speak in this bizarre world.
[...] All government regulation (aka “reform”) is designed to create and maintain monopolies. [...]
Good government regulations deal with violations of the rights of others (pollution, etc). Bad government regulations try to restructure society (NLRB telling Boeing they can’t move to the Carolinas).